Whispers and Tears
by weber
Summary: Harry and Hermione...study buddies, best friends, and a spark of something more this year...
1. So New

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the following except for the plot. Don't sue me. I'm too poor.

Chapter one: So new

Harry jumped the last five steps of the Dursley's staircase in his eagerness to be out the door. it was September 1, and the Hogwarts Express was leaving platform 9 3/4 in an hour. It had been such a long summer, staying with the Dursley's, Ron had been in Egypt for the past 2 months, and he had just seen Hermione last week in Diagon Alley. She'd been looking great, and he had surprised himself by thinking of her more and more as the first day of school drew nearer. 

Uncle Vernon was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, pleased, obviously, that he wasn't going to see his unwanted nephew for another 10 months. Harry's trunk and cauldron had already been in the car since the night before. 

"Get a move on now; I've got things to do, other than driving you to the station. I'll just be happiest when you've left this house for good, you and your bizarre ideas, and we all can finally live a normal life." Mr. Dursley had gotten very little sleep the night before; he wasn't in the most passive of moods. Ignoring him, Harry went to pick up Hedwigs empty cage (she was off sending a letter to Sirius) and left through the open door to the car.

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Hermione's trunk was loaded on a cart from the station, and with all her extra books; she worried if it would fit through the barrier onto the platform. Her parents had dropped her off just outside the station, leaving to go to the airport and to their long-awaited vacation in America. The cart swayed, unsteady, as she moved towards the platforms 9 and 10. As she went, she thought about Harry, how tall and lean he had seemed when she had seen him at Diagon Alley only a week before. He had changed so much since she had first seen him, small and nervous, in the train compartment next to Ron. Now he was stronger, capable, not afraid anymore. And she should think not, as he had now faced Voldemort 4 times and come out alive. She was viewed as his best friend, along with Ron, but she wasn't sure it would last on just those terms anymore. 

He had changed all right, and she felt something for him, more than ever.

Through the crowd, Hermione glimpsed what appeared to be a movable bush of shocking red hair. The entire Weasley family, with the exception of Mr. Weasley and Percy, was heading to the barrier between the platforms. Taking care not to knock over Crookshanks' basket or slide her trunk off the cart, she manipulated her heavy load through the hundreds of muggles to the Weasleys. Ginny sighted her first, and hugged Hermione tightly. 

"How was Egypt? You look like you were painted red." Hermione laughed. Ron answered her, "It was just fine, and while we were being painted, you must have been at the hair salon. It looks different." 

"Yeah, for my birthday, I decided to change the look a little" she smiled.

Her hair was longer, and she had gotten a curly perm to it, big, cute curls, and something else that helped calm her hairs bushiness down, making it sleek. 

"Oh Hermione! How are you? Hurry along dear, we don't want to miss the train now do we? Let Ron help you with that." Mrs. Weasley insisted.

Ron moved up to the cart, to help steer it with the cheap straining wheels veering out of control. The barrier loomed up in front of them, the solid brick wall, undistinguishable from the other barriers just like it, only with much more amazing abilities. Lining them up, Mrs. Weasley smilingly led them through one by one, appearing magically at platform 9 3/4, the great scarlet steam engine surrounded by students of all ages in black swirling cloaks. There were another 10 minutes until the Hogwarts express was scheduled to leave, and everyone was rushing to find an empty compartment. Hermione and Ron searched through the compartments, and finally found an empty one near the end, empty except for Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage, stored in the corner. After loading their own trunks, and saying goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, they entered the compartment to find Harry sitting inside.

"Harry! Its so good to see you? So you survived the Dursleys did you? "

"Yeah," He answered Ron, smiling widely, "and you look like you've gotten a little sun. Was Egypt fun?"

"Incredible, like the last time, only more fun, Percy wasn't there."

Harry turned to Hermione, and hugged her tightly. She felt his long, hard body against hers and the warmth from his embrace seeping through her body. 

"Sit down, we've got a long ride ahead of us."

The whole way to Hogwarts, they talked and laughed, regaining lost memories, creating the prologue to this years adventures together. Harry bought a pile of Cauldron Cakes from the lady with the cart, and for a while they simply were together in happy peace. Draco Malfoy didn't even come, finding them on the train as he usually did, and Ron mentioned this,

"Draco hasn't come to piss us off, I wonder if dad was right..." 

"What about?" Hermione asked.

"Dad said something about Draco Malfoy not coming to Hogwarts until October, I think it was something about an extended vacation, Mr. Malfoy bragged about it to everyone of course. I didn't really understand the whole thing, but that means a whole month without Draco!"

"That'll be a relief all right." Harry said. "He doesn't give us much free air to breathe when he's around, does he?"

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That night Harry, lying in his bed, felling extremely comfortable with a full stomach from the feast, thought about her again. Hermione, with her now flowing, curled hair, and her large, deep brown eyes, the long lashes that brought them out. Her complexion was as smooth as new fruit and Harry couldn't help but think that she was beautiful. He loved her laugh, her smile, her quizzical looks at him, the way that she would twist the material of the sleeve of her cloak when she was nervous. He realized that he loved talking to her too, she was so interesting and intelligent. Harry liked making her laugh, making her smile; just being with her made him happy. He wanted her to be happy. Listening to Neville's soft snoring, Harry wondered if he could ever get up the nerve to ask her out. Hernione probably just thinks of you as a friend, nothing more, he said to himself, feeling his heart sinking. When could it change into something more?

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Please review! I'm trying to make this interesting, just bear with me. Second chapter will bring in some more, just review. Please! Thanks- Weber


	2. Starting

Disclaimer: refer to chapter 1.

thanks to all those people who left reviews! i just wanted to say, i dont check my e-mail as often as i should, if u really want me to get a message then write me a note on my free open diary. copy and paste the following: http://freeopendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=A756030 and check out my OD entries and leave me notes. thisll also give u the oportunity to get to know me better. trust me on this.

Chapter 2: Starting

"I don't see why you can't tell her yourself, do I have to do everything for you?" Ron was tired and cranky from a detention the night before; he'd been unable to resist a kick to Mrs. Norris. 

"You aren't doing everything for me, all I'm asking is for you do drop the note off on her bed. I'm too paranoid. I think she suspects that I like her, and I just want to tell her straight out tonight and see what happens. I'm just asking for a little help. Is it too much to ask?" Harry hadn't slept the night before either, he'd just lain awake thinking about his situation, and decided to leave Hermione a note on her bed, but was afraid someone would see him entering the girls dormitory and tell her and that she would get the wrong impression. 

"Alright, alright, _fine_, I'll do it." Almost grimacing at the folded piece of parchment in his hand, Ron carefully walked up the steps to the girl's dormitory, and glancing from side to side to make sure no one was watching, he slipped in. Harry felt his heart slow, he looked around the room to make sure no one had seen. Suddenly the portrait hole flew open, with Fred and George squeezing through, both tied (for whatever reason) to a single Filibuster's No-Heat Wet-Start Firework by their wrists. The firework was going in circles (a sure sign that they came from Zoko's Joke shop) before heading straight for the ceiling(both twins attached and dangling) and bursting into magnificent green and blue beams of light that seemed to be absorbed by the walls. The common room became a place were it hurt to keep your eyes open for more than a minute. The Weasley twins lay on the floor, both nursing various injuries, Fred with a large purple-blueish bruise on his face and a broken arm, and George with a long bloody gash on his forehead and an ignited sleeve. Both however, found the inclination to laugh. 

"Ruddy brilliant, we should try that at home, we'd go even higher," went George.

"Don't start, I'm in enough pain as it is, I'm not doing that again, but yes, Brilliant." Fred moaned. Out of the corner of Harry's eye he saw Ron running down the stairs and turned to see he was shaking his head at the twins. He nodded to Harry, who was shielding his eyes from the light. The Griffindor students, after the initial shock of seeing two teenagers lying burnt and pained on the floor, started to go about helping the twins up on their feet, leading them towards the couch to lie down while someone went for Madam Pomfrey.

"We're dead, Mum's Howler will be coming anytime now." Fred wasn't happy about his arm at all.

"A well, its the once in a lifetime thing, you know." George shrugged and Fred agreed;

"Being blown up by a firework doesn't happen everyday."

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Hermione's eyes hurt from the common room, she'd gotten there late trying to catch up next weeks research at the library. She liked being on top of things, but the fluorescent blue green of the common room made up her mind for her, she stopped studying an hour earlier to go to bed. Hermione hadn't seen Harry or Ron since dinner, she wondered were they could be. As she walked up to the dormitory, Hermione wondered if she would ever get the guts up to tell Harry she liked him. Walking through the door, she groaned when she saw that the firework had left its effects here too. The entire dormitory glowed.

"Oh no," she sighed. And raising her wand, pronounced "_reclusa_" pointing to her bed. The bed shrank back into the glowing stone wall, to the dark layers underneath. Hermione undressed, and was just climbing into bed when she spotted the white piece of folded parchment on her pillow. Opening it she read: 

Dear Hermione,

Meet me in the common room at midnight, we've got to talk about something. Its not homework either. Please be there.

-Harry

Staring at the small scrap of parchment, Hermione nervously shook her head. She would meet him there alright, but she wasn't going to let herself get her hopes falsely aroused. Could he possibly, just possibly, like her? The same way she liked him? Did he maybe dream about her, think about her and smile, want to be with her all the time? Like she did with him? 

She thought lovingly of the way he would lean against the wall, his tall, thin, wiry frame topped with a playful ruffleage of black hair, his bright green, inquisitive eyes shining behind his glasses, his slow moving, surprising smile lighting up his face. Could Harry really maybe like her?

"Stop that you," Hermione scolded herself, "you're always getting your hopes up about something. Harry is just your friend." She wasn't even aware that she had spoken aloud to the stone ceiling. quietly yes, and no one but herself heard, yet she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back her feelings...

Eventually, they would conquer her.

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Harry quietly drew his dressing gown over his P.J.'s and tip toed out the dormitory to the staircase fifteen minutes before midnight. Sitting down on the couch, Harry thought back on what he'd seen of Hermione this year. He loved her long, flowing, silky large curled hair. Her eyes, those large hazel eyes with dark lashes surrounding them, making them twice as big as they really were. Her body, shy and cautious, new to the large soft shapes that became it so. Altogether, she was wonderful. 

"Harry?" He turned to see Hemione standing nervously by the staircase, hair beautifully disheveled, eyes large and wondering. Smiling, Harry patted the seat of the couch next to him. Hermione walked over and both she and Harry realized that both of them were too shy to look each other in the eyes. After a few minutes, Harry couldn't bear it anymore.

"Hermione, it never used to be this way. I don't know if you've seen it too, but look, we can't even meet each other's eyes. This is a complete and hopeful shot in the dark, but I...I like you and I think you like me too." Hermione looked up, and there was surprise and delight in her eyes.

"Harry, you're right, I do like you, but I was too afraid to tell anyone. I was too shy to let anybody know. I think it was at Diagon Alley that I started liking you. I love you as a friend, but as something else....I don't know. I'm very new to all this." She shyly looked at him through her lashes, wondering what his reaction would be. Hermione hoped that it would be a good one. She didn't expect it at all when he simply stood up, and offering he his hand, helped her up. She stood, and Harry saw that she was just tall enough to look over his shoulder. Holding her close to him, he looked down at her face, smiled at her reassuringly, and gathered up all of his courage. Tilting his head to one side slightly, Harry moved closer to Hermione. He saw her eyes widen just a tiny it, and for a split second thought that he had done something wrong, but then she was tilting her head to the other side, and her eyes were closing, and his eyes were closing, and their lips touched, pressed together. Harry's were warm and dry to Hermione. To Harry, Hermione's lips were sweet, soft, so alluring. It lasted no more than two seconds, and it was a simple, loving kiss, but meant so much more than it seemed. After that, they held each other close, Each listening to the beating of the others' heart and the steady rhythm of the other's breathing. It felt new, wonderful, slightly forbidden, and yet so right. 

Finally, Hermione drew away, smiling to him said, 

"I...I've got to get some sleep Harry, tomorrow isn't Saturday." Harry responded, a grin lighting up his face, the back of his hand gently caressing her cheek, and moved forward to clasp her in his embrace again.

"I know. You should. Thank you Hermione, I'm really glad we talked and..... I'm just glad. I really have liked you for a while." Hermione leaned her head onto his chest, and said,

"So am I. I wouldn't have had it any differently. But remember, were still best friends, no matter what." Grinning and tilting her face up to his, Harry said,

"And we always will be, no matter what."

And before she went up the stairs to her dormitory, he kissed her lightly, once again, on those lips, ecstatic that the encounter had gone by so wonderfully, he kissed Hermione, who was beautiful in her cautious ways and slight of smile, on one of the most wonderful nights of his life.

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Deal with me here....I know it needs work! dont expect sex in this story though, im just beginning, i want to get my bearings first, i might create another story someday, but for now, this is all i got! please review! thanks

-weber

P.S. dont forget, go to: http://freeopendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=A756030 and you might get any messages to me quicker, or maybe see other stuff that i write in there, just about my daily life. enjoy!


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